RaceDepartment Editor-in-ChiefStaffPremium

A new blog posting from Sector3 Studios details what's been going on at the studio, and what we can look forward to in the near future...

Its been a while since Sector3 put virtual pen to paper and wrote about what's going on behind the scenes with RaceRoom Racing Experience, however this month the crew over in Sweden have given us a nice update on how things are developing with the sim - including some interesting hints about new features and content that is set to release in the coming weeks and months.

If you want to know how things are going with RaceRoom Racing Experience, from the developers own words, check out the blog post in full below..

Yes, I did miss the opportunity of writing one in April... Last month is a big blur for me while we were dedicated to the Volkswagen ID.R project and putting in long hours. I was mostly just focused on that while the team kept cracking on with more good stuff.

So let's catch up together with what they've been doing. But first let's recap the status of all the items discussed in the March 2019 thread:

Progress update on the March thread:

Adjustable Tyre Pressure - Shipped! How are you all liking this? We'll be adding this as planned to all new cars and reviewed cars in future updates.

Flat spots, suspension damage and damage settings - Still being fine tuned in betatesting, and the damage settings revision is probably going to be the most time consuming to make as it involves UI's, backend, and some refactoring of the game code.

Fanatec SDK update - We had some last minute modifications to allow toggling LED's and Displays in various ways. Support for the DD2 is already added, so we're looking good to include this in the next game update.

What we're working on at the moment

Cars : Esports, esports, esports! We are currently busy on the 2019 season of the FIA WTCR. I can't show you much as things still need to go through approvals and all, so here's a blurry car. Which car can it possibly be?

We're doing our best to complete this 2019 set and have them available towards end of June, so expect the esports WTCR 2019 to start soon after that.

Then, probably later due to BOP requirements and WTCR taking priority, we'll be bringing you a BMW M1 Group 4, to fight alongside the Porsche 934 RSR.

Of course, let's not forget the Volkswagen ID.R ! Our initial version of the car will receive several adjustments in physics. The real car has now been on two practice sessions around the Nordschleife and the telemetry and comments from Romain Dumas will allow us to bring the car closer to its real performance. We have several visual updates to the car that are ready to ship, such as adding the DRS box.

Once the ID.R physics are completed and published, a second round of the Volkswagen ID. R Challenge will open with the updated car, and it will likely be finally available in the store around that time.

2. More Cars : Sadly can't say much else than "more cars are being licensed for a release in 2019" at this point. Until papers are all in order, it's all a bit hush-hush.

3. Soon™ cars : The next update should see the release of the Formula RaceRoom X-90. Designed to bring you back to the visuals and sounds of the early 90's formula series, this car will come in three engine flavours : V8, V10 and V12. Do I need to tell you they all sound awesome? After endlessly lapping the Nordschleife in the relative silence of the highly technological VW ID.R, this one will turn your ears back on.​

4. Tracks : 4 active projects at the moment, and not enough time. Sorry but still can't disclose anything until we get closer to release.

5. Force Feedback updates : Working on two separate areas of FFB improvements.

One started as a bug fix and quickly turned into a feature as we realized the static friction (the fact that turning the steering wheel should be more difficult when your car is standing still) wasn't working at all. As a result we not only now have a working friction, but also a proper fully simulated power steering. Turning off your engine and power is even taken into account. Rumor has it that Anthony is even going to add a sound sample for turning wheels.

The other is about introducing pneumatic trail effects. ( wiki and some other source that requires aspirin) This will give some very welcome information about the amount of grip available on the front wheels.

6. Moving / resizing HUD elements : Since the release of the in-game overlays feature and its ability to handle moving widgets around the screen, many asked why this wasn't possible for the regular HUD. This will now be possible. (except for the top position bar, which occupies the full width of the screen and could only be moved down in a very impractical fashion to whoever wanted to see what's happening outside of the car) You will finally be able to move and resize that big virtual rearview mirror!

7. Small feature for LED / wheelbase displays: Some 3rd party tools offer the ability to push custom information to the steering wheel displays such as Fanatec's rev LED's. It was unfortunately cumbersome for the users of those apps to prevent RaceRoom from sending data to those rev LED's and diplays. We will offer new controls that will allow those users to cycle through different modes for rev LED's and displays, allowing to just turn them off completely.

8. Moaaaar dedi features : We're currently testing a live penalty system allowing the league admins to hand out penalties during a race: Slowdown, drive-through, stop-n-go or just plain Disqualification. We're also working on the ability to read and send chat messages directly from the dedicated server manager UI.

9. Discord : Thought I'd just mention it here: You NEED to join the RaceRoom Discord channel. Link here. We've just restructured it a bit to bring it more in line with the current standards.

10. Feels like I should reach 10 to look as busy as in March.​

RaceRoom Racing Experience is a PC exclusive racing simulation from Sector3 Studios, and is available to download now.

RaceDepartment Editor-in-ChiefStaffPremium

Don't recognise it either... looks like its a fantasy content piece. because who would put those stupid lights on the bonnet and some underneath too. No real manufacturer would do that, it would look silly and spoil what could be quite a nice little car.

Mark KaplinPremium

But for real, really excited about those new projects they're working on. I only recently came to appreciate r3e to it's full extent... It's nice to know it's still being worked on now more than ever..

Premium

I am looking forward to this, and I hope that they put a On/ Off option for the unrealistic and very annoying headlight flashing. For example, having a GT4 car passed by a GT3 car and the GT4 car immediately flashing it's headlights at the GT3, car just ruins the immersion factor for me.

I'm going to sound pretty harsh, but I have to admit it's hard for me to say I'm impressed. What could possibly make so hard to implement this feature? You had it in Race07 and that used the same base engine as R3E, but even though less than 20% of the original code is present I'm still baffled by the time it took you guys to add such basic feature.

Premium

I cant wait for the X-90. The 90's Formula one cars (pre 98) are easily some of my Favorite. Awesome engines, Aero & Handling + Slick tires! Even though i do still love the cars after 98. The grove tires just take a little of the enjoyment out.

Very excited about the backend/game-code changes especially with regards to "physics features" (flatspots, suspension damage, etc.), and FFB.

Anything where the backend/core-coding gets changed/updated is progress for me because that's what truly changes a game's core gameplay/physics.

How will power-steering work? Will it just be a simplified, overall-FFB multiplier or will it be more dynamically and with more complexity integrated into the actual FFB/phjysics model?

Loving the early-90s F1 idea. Hopefully the V8, V10, and V12 give different physics (different horsepower and torque curves throughout the rev-range, different throttle response, different weight, different centre of gravity, different fuel usage, etc.). But if not, that's OK, at-least 3 different sounding versions are available

Sector3 Studios

Loving the early-90s F1 idea. Hopefully the V8, V10, and V12 give different physics (different horsepower and torque curves throughout the rev-range, different throttle response, different weight, different centre of gravity, different fuel usage, etc.). But if not, that's OK, at-least 3 different sounding versions are available